Copyright Concerns for Remixing Music

In 2019 remixing music seems like a perfectly normal thing and is available to everyone who is interested in doing it. All you need is basically a computer and a few songs and voila – you’re a DJ! But the law doesn’t really allow for things to happen so easily. So, we get to the everlasting question: can remixes be done legally and if yes, how? In this article, we will try to shed some light on the FAQ of copyright laws concerning remixing music. This article is written in accordance with the USA laws. Even though USA laws are mostly in line with international copyright laws, you are advised to look up your own national laws for slight differences that are bound to happen.

Introduction

First of all, I would like to introduce you to some of the basic legislative terminology used. Copyright laws are laws that give authors and artists “exclusive rights to make and sell copies of their work, the right to create derivative work (important for remixing) and the rights to publicly perform or display works of art.” These rights can be transferred, in music mainly on record label and publisher, which split the copyrights over master copyright, which covers every stem in the master recording of the song (so, if you use just a bass line for i.e. it will still be covered by copyright laws) and publisher copyright, that covers music and lyrics in the song. Stems are all of the individual tracks that make the final master mix of the original song.

Every remix in the legal terms is derivative work. That’s because you are using someone else’s work and changing it to derive something new. Because of that, you need permission from the owner of the copyright for that song, to make money off of his work. If all of this feels a bit complicated, that’s because, well… It is. It’s hard of the lawmakers to follow technological advances and the legislature we mention was made some 50 years ago. But, here we’re getting to the important part.

Basic Differences

If you’re just remixing music for yourself at your home, then you shouldn’t really be reading this article as you are under no surveillance by the music industry. But, if you are a professional DJ aspiring to earn money and have commercial success then you should consider this advice.

Always try to get permission to use the music involved in your remix from the copyright owner. It’s important to note that author of the song is usually NOT the owner of copyright but record label and/or publisher, who bought them of the owner before publishing his record. So, make sure to find the copyright owner and get some written permission to use the music (just an e-mail should be just fine). You should do this especially to protect yourself from an eventual lawsuit in the future.

Everything mentioned for the remixing is also applicable to the use of samples and sampling music. You probably heard that if you use some minor amount of time of the song, i.e. 5 seconds or under 10, 15, 20, seconds then you don’t need the permission. That is not true! Whether you use 0,1 seconds of the song or the whole song, you need the permission from the song’s copyright owner, just like you need it for remixing the song.

If you’re wondering about live performance DJ-ing, then the situation changes a little bit (to your side thankfully). Because what DJ’s play when doing gigs is almost all somebody other’s work, the system is made so that the clubs pay royalties through copyright owners associations and you have nothing to worry about or pay anything yourself.

Official remix

Over the years, artist and publishers noted that remixes can be used to gain the popularity for the original song and started the age of official remixes – remixes that are paid and ordered by original authors of the song. With these remixes, it’s not really a question if you have permission (because you were called by the copyright owner to come and make the remix) but the question is how can you get paid for your own contribution to the song remix?

Today many copyright owners will pay you a one-time flat fee for your royalties, essentially buying your own copyrights over the remix from you. And usually, that will cover what you would have made from the royalties anyway. But, don’t be fooled and ask for your money if none is being offered to you when you’re doing an official remix.

Bootleg remix

Bootleg remix, as the name suggests, is the type of illegal remix that can get you in trouble. These are usually done without the permission of the author or copyright owner. Even though the harshest penalty for this is theoretically prison, if you’re not making billions of dollars from your remix it will just usually be just a monetary fine, where you are obliged to pay to the copyrights owner what money you made from the song.

But with the bootleg remixes, we get to the fine line of what is actually considered a bootleg remix. And on the stage enters The Fair Use doctrine, that allows some exceptions to the copyright infringement law. These exceptions are made by answering four main questions, which are:

• Purpose and character of the use (if the remix is used for parody or teaching or several other public uses, then there will be no copyright infringement)
• Nature of the copyrighted work (has the song been released yet)
• Amount of the used work (it’s not the same if you use 90% of the original song or 5 seconds of intro)
• Was there any market harm to the original work? (for i.e. if you with your remix made 10 times the amount of money the author of the original song made, you are probably making market harm to the original work)

Of course, it’s not expected of you to check your every remix for this, as these are court-based rules, but you should have them always in mind, in case there is a problem with your remix. This type of law will only get used if you get to the court – which you are trying to avoid in the first place.

Conclusion

If you’re thinking that you’re the only one with problems with remixing music – think again. Almost every music star has been sued for every hit song by someone trying to claim some copyrights infringement (and usually failing). When you want to do a remix for home use or just for practice, you shouldn’t really worry as no one will hear for it and you are not going to make commercial use out of it. But, if you’re planning on selling the remix, then you should really consider getting permission from the copyright owner in writing so you can publish your work without fear of lawsuits coming to get you.

Remixing is here to stay, whether you like it or not, in the form of sampling or mash-ups or radio/club editing od the song or any other type out there. The music industry is getting used to it and using it constantly and you should have no fear of remixing music as long as you follow the law. The advice we gave you in this article should be helpful, but it is also advised to get legal counsel if you’re not sure about something.